Meta: Facebook as company changes it's name, all you need to know

 Facebook has announced it's brand new name and revealed the logo as well. Mark Zukerberg addressed the users and said they will not face any changes while using any of the Facebook owned app like Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp & Oculus.

The new name announced is 'Metaverse' or simply 'Meta'. It is said that now onwards, the official name of the company will be Metaverse First for all the Official work.

Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and Oculus will be under Meta, So it can be considered as the parent company. Meta will work to manage all it's existing social media apps and will side by side work on for the future technology and apps that the copany is planning to launch.

“I think we’re basically moving from being Facebook first as a company to being metaverse first,” Facebook-now-Meta’s CEO, Zuckerberg told The Verge in an interview. On its own site, Facebook…err, Meta, describes the Metaverse as, “The metaverse will feel like a hybrid of today’s online social experiences, sometimes expanded into three dimensions or projected into the physical world. It will let you share immersive experiences with other people even when you can’t be together — and do things together you couldn’t do in the physical world. It’s the next evolution in a long line of social technologies, and it’s ushering in a new chapter for our company."

Announcing @Meta — the Facebook company’s new name. Meta is helping to build the metaverse, a place where we’ll play and connect in 3D. Welcome to the next chapter of social connection. pic.twitter.com/ywSJPLsCoD

— Meta (@Meta) October 28, 2021

What changes at Facebook?

The change does not apply to its individual platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, only the parent company that owns them.

For those who don't remember, it's very similar to what Google did in 2015 when they restructured its company, calling its parent firm Alphabet. That, sadly hasn't caught on.

The company also unveiled a new sign at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Thursday, replacing its thumbs-up “Like” logo with a blue infinity shape. Facebook did not announce any executive changes on Thursday. But on Zuckerberg's personal Facebook page, his job title was changed to: "Founder and CEO at Meta."

In a blog post, highlighting the change, Zuckerberg wrote that the company's structure would not change, but how it reports financial results will. "Starting with our results for the fourth quarter of 2021, we plan to report on two operating segments: Family of Apps and Reality Labs” he explained. “We also intend to start trading under the new stock ticker we have reserved, MVRS, on 1 December. Today’s announcement does not affect how we use or share data.”

Other announcements made by Meta

In addition to its name change, Meta also announced an upcoming virtual reality headset called Project Cambria, a high-end product available to be released next year at a higher price point than the $299 Quest 2 headset, the company said in a blog post.

Meta also announced the code name of its first fully AR-capable smart glasses: Project Nazare. The glasses are 'still a few years out,' the company said in a blog post and Zuckerberg noted, 'we still have a ways to go with Nazare, but we're making good progress.'

What exactly is Meta?

So, as we get used to Meta, let’s also understand what this means and why Zuckerberg chose this as the name for his company.

For tech-challenged people, the term 'metaverse' refers to digital spaces, which are made more lifelike by the use of virtual reality or augmented reality.

Zuckerberg has previously suggested the metaverse to be the future of the company, and has been talking up the metaverse since July.

The buzzy word, first coined in a dystopian novel three decades earlier, is popular in Silicon Valley and has been referenced by other tech firms such as Microsoft.

Describing his plans, Zuckerberg said he expects the metaverse to reach a billion people within the next decade. He described futuristic plans to create a digital world, in which users will feel they are with one another and have a “sense of presence” despite being far apart.

"I've been thinking a lot about our identity as we begin this next chapter. Facebook is one of the most used products in the history of the world," Zuckerberg said on Thursday. "It is an iconic social media brand, but increasingly it just doesn't encompass everything that we do.

"Today we're seen as a social media company," he added, "but in our DNA, we are a company that builds technology to connect people. And the metaverse is the next frontier just like social networking was when we got started."

Zuckerberg, who said he loved studying classics in school, said the name was inspired by the Greek word meta, which means "beyond." "For me, it symbolizes that there is always more to build."

The company also replaced its corporate sign, which featured a picture of a "thumbs up," outside of its California, headquarters with one touting its new logo: a blue infinity sign.

Facebook did not announce any executive changes on Thursday. But on Zuckerberg's personal Facebook page, his job title was changed to: "Founder and CEO at Meta."

When asked by The Verge if he would remain CEO at Facebook in the next 5 years, he said: "Probably. I don't have a specific date how long I want to be doing this for. I guess what I could say is I'm very excited about the next chapter of what we're doing."